


The Onslaught

by AdrianaintheSnow



Series: Labeled [38]
Category: Sanders Sides (Web Series)
Genre: (Janus is... not a hero), Being Impaled, Electrocution, Falling from a building, Fire, Killing committed by a main character, M/M, Major character death is of an OC, Mind Control, Needles, Non-Consensual Drug Use, Serious Injuries, Surgery, Torture inflicted by a main character
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-08-09
Updated: 2020-08-09
Packaged: 2021-03-06 02:54:36
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Major Character Death
Chapters: 4
Words: 3,151
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/25796215
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/AdrianaintheSnow/pseuds/AdrianaintheSnow
Summary: In a world of superpowers, some people don’t have them. This doesn’t make them unimportant.Four mini stories about the world wide supervillain attack that would come to be known as The Onslaught.This is an event that takes place about 10 years before Sometimes Labels Fail.
Relationships: Logic | Logan Sanders/Morality | Patton Sanders
Series: Labeled [38]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1616662
Comments: 115
Kudos: 174





	1. Talia Khalid

Talia Khalid, or Lia for short, loved the quiet hum of the machines at her lab. It was a peaceful sound: a known sound. She’d helped build most of the machines in this room in the past 5 years she’d been working at the university and had used the others often enough that she might as well have. The machines felt like home, this room felt like home, the university felt like home. She’d gone to grad school here and had met her husband here. While she’d traveled for a few years after getting her PhD, she’d still ended up returning here, and she’d been greeted with open arms and a place in a project that was sure to push society in a good direction.

Lia had been studying supers. Particularly, she’d been researching the genetics of supers as well as how powers affected people’s lives. She’d mapped genomes, considered data about physical health, and interviewed people who agreed to be a part of the study. They’d made many strides over the last few years that were sure to help with medical breakthroughs for supers and non-supers alike. She’d even been promoted to the head of this project two months ago.

She knew every noise every machine could make. She knew the squeak of the door when it opened and how footsteps echoed depending on where other people were in the labs. She could identify any of her underlings’ voices with one murmured word. Lia knew every sound in her lab. So, she knew she hadn’t heard the door open nor did she hear any footsteps. She also knew that she didn’t recognize the voice that crackled through the air suddenly from beside her. “I need to borrow something from you,” the voice said, and then there was someone next to her.

Lia knew enough about enough superpowers and she had a quick enough brain that she put together from the lack of an entrance and the way the air around the woman crackled dangerously that this person had electrokinesis. She must have come through the wires.

There were a lot of things in this room someone might want or want to destroy: a supercomputer running the latest blood tests, blood samples from various supers, chemicals and machinery, a lot of raw data, a lot of partially finished projects and tech. Lia wasn’t sure what she wanted, and she would never get a chance to know.

All she knew was that she made the choice to smack an emergency button on her desk to delete all of the personal data on every super in their computer, and in the next moment, the tendrils of electricity that had been hanging in the air coalesced and shocked her until her heart stopped.

Considering what would happen next and what could have happened next, one could argue that Lia Khalid saved the world that day, though not in any way she had been trying to. Because, if it had been anyone else, Logan Sanders would not have been there. If it had been anyone else, he would have been exactly on time to their appointment, just like he would be for any other colleague. Lia was one of the few people in the world that Logan Sanders, upon finishing his work 20 minute early, would show up at her lab before their planned lunch together at noon. Since it was Lia, Logan was comfortable having a casual conversation with her as she finished her work. They had, after all, shared an office in graduate school for 6 years.

There was no reason to blame himself when he showed up to her lab after her body had been going cool for almost 10. After all, he hadn’t even been due to be there for another 20. There was no reason to blame himself.

He still would.


	2. Wade Brigs

Wade Brigs was a relatively simple man all things considered. He had a daughter who was in her junior year of college and a son about to graduate from high school. He’d started out working for the city as a teenager filling potholes and had ended up on the police force after a couple of years of college. He’d never cared much about going up the ranks like some of his coworkers and while he’d been moved from graveyard shift to day shift, he’d never made sergeant or even bothered to try. He was content with where he was and didn’t see much need for a change.

On that day, he’d happened to be close by when the call came in that there was a man on the Newback Bridge acting erratically who seemed to be planning to jump. So, he’d responded and driven over to the bridge. He’d gotten out of his car just as two other officers arrived. Maybe they should have found it odd that no one that had been in their cars on the bridge was trying to drive anywhere, but they’d assumed most people were stopped because of the man on the edge. They had been too focused on deescalating the obvious problem to notice that the other citizens weren’t trying to get out of their cars and gawk or turn around and drive away agitated at the disruption to their days.

Wade had been the one to try to approach, calling out to the man and trying to talk him down or at least figure out what was going on, but the man hadn’t responded. He also hadn’t threatened to do anything or make any move to jump, so Wade had ended up getting nearer to him.

“Sir?” he asked when he was a couple feet away. The man turned to him.

Wade would never forget the look in the man’s eyes in that moment. Wade had expected to see anger or despair or even confusion, but that’s not what he saw at all. No, what he saw was fear and pain and _please run._

Something was wrong. Wade took a stumbling step back, fully intending in that moment to obey the man’s silent plea and run away, but his legs locked in place. Confused, he tried to jerk away from whatever was holding him, but his body would not respond. For the next half hour, his body would be a puppet, his mind intact but his actions not his own as he was forced to help draw more and more people into the web of the supervillain, a man walker by the name of Puppeteer.

Finally, when the villain decided he had enough people under his control, he revealed himself to the city cameras with all the pomp and dramatics of any supervillain. Over 100 people stood frozen on the edge of the bridge under his control. He’d already had a dozen or so toss themselves off of it, just to show that he was serious.

Wade was only a few feet from the villain when someone else stepped onto the bridge. It drew Wade’s attention because he was the only person withing Puppeteer’s field of influence that was moving. He footsteps were startlingly loud on the metal bridge when everything else was silent bar the distant sounds of what Wade assumed to be some other sort of attack on the other side of the city.

It was Deceit. Wade knew Deceit, of course. Everyone did. He’d been a vigilante that had plagued or helped the city for decades depending on who you asked. He had a mental power, the ability to create hallucinations to be specific, but he tended to much more favor the use of his fist or a gun. Wade had never even heard of him using his mental powers to do more than distract someone briefly.

Puppeteer turned to him as Deceit approached and stopped a few feet from Wade.

“I think it would be in your best interest to release those people and leave now,” Deceit said simply.

“You’re not a hero,” Puppeteer reasoned. “This isn’t your fight. Stand down.”

“Oh, you’re right,” said Deceit. “I’m not a hero.” He stepped forward another step. “So, this is you last chance not to die a painful death.”

The villain scoffed. “What do _you_ even think you could do to me?”

Deceit did not respond. Except then he did. A second foreign presence was suddenly filling Wade’s head, even more overwhelming than the first. It was the most powerful mental power Wade had ever or would ever come into contact with. It could have ripped them all to shreds in a moment, Wade knew instinctually. It could have twisted them all up and down and around with vivid images of their worst fears and insecurities at its leisure, and Wade didn’t know if anyone would have been able to stop it. Instead of doing that, however, it wrapped itself around the first presence and squeezed tight making it rear back in surprise. Wade somehow knew, much like one would know that losing a limb would hurt, that if he hadn’t taken that step, if Deceit had just ripped out Puppeteer’s presence, it would have done damage to all of them. As it was, Wade could feel the Puppeteer release just enough that when Deceit yanked him out all Wade felt was a brief pop of discomfort.

Wade stumbled back, barely catching himself as he was suddenly given control over his body again. Many other’s fell back or ended up on their knees. On instinct, Wade grabbed the gun still in his holster though he didn’t know what he planned to do with it.

“What?” Puppeteer asked, more confused than terrified as he likely should have been.

Deceit tilted his head, eyes on the villain. “Suffer,” he said simply, and Puppeteer shrieked, falling to the ground on hands and knees. Deceit turned to Wade calmly as the villain continued to scream in agony. Deceit held out his hand. “You can tell them I made you give it to me.”

Wade blinked at him and then at the gun in his hand.

He handed it over.


	3. Rhea Silvia

The world was in chaos, and Rhea was not overstating when she thought that. Communication had been spotty especially with those outside the city, but from what little she’d heard, there were supervillain attacks being staged all over the world concurrently. It was a coordinated attack.

Two supervillains had attacked her city in tandem. A man walker was at the main bridge into the city and had taken hostage a sizable chunk of the police force in addition to many civilians the last she’d heard. Somehow that managed to not be her biggest concern at the moment. No, what she was busy with was a speedster currently razing down the city. There was fire and blood and death everywhere. The woman had no restraint when it came to killing people from officers to civilians to children, and she had to force down the panic at the thought of children dying. She could not let herself be distracted or the probability of people she cared about dying grew higher. The death toll of this was already high and rising not to mention if the man walker decided to force everyone under his control off the bridge.

Bluebird had yet to show even though the attack had gone live on public cameras over 15 minutes ago.

She and the two officers with her had taken cover behind an armored vehicle for the moment. The Courthouse was gone as well as the precinct. The last she’d heard before the radios went out was that the mayor had been thrown off the flaming City Hall. The speedster had no known name, but she was certainly powerful. She seemed to be everywhere at once.

There was a sudden loud bang from the other side of the city near the university and what looked like lightning streaked across the otherwise clear sky. She knew immediately. There was a third attack, and she would bet her life that was why Bluebird wasn’t here right now. Of course they’d send more than two for this city. Bluebird was well known, and they’d want to be sure to have enough power to hold him off. Rhea had confidence in Bluebird, but she also knew he was only human, and he could only be in one place at once. They were on their own.

Fine.

She was up.

Downtown was all but unrecognizable at the moment, but she mapped it out mentally. Most government buildings were destroyed, and the university was too far away and being attacked as well besides, but there was a pharmacy a block away. She knew for a fact that it had some drugs for supers who were ill. People with things like super-strength and speed had higher metabolisms that needed to be slowed for normal medications to work and sometimes would need to have drugs to strip them of their powers when they were ill, so they wouldn’t destroy things with sneezes. There was sure to be something that could take down the speedster even if only for a while. It could give them a chance. She turned to the two officers with her.

“Oxyproxicolotin,” she told them. “We’re making a break to the pharmacy down there,” she pointed, “and if I die before we get there, oxyproxicolotin can take her down.”

They both nodded.

Then, they ran. It was not nearly fast enough if she saw them, but luck and knowledge of the city cameras were on their side and they managed to make it to the pharmacy intact.

There were people hunkered down inside who flinched when they busted in, but Rhea paid them no mind. She bolted to the back.

“Oxyproxicolotin in a syringe now!” she demanded of the woman in a white coat near the pharmacy. She obeyed immediately, rushing into the back with Rhea on her heels.

She found what was requested and offered all she had to Rhea.

“Keep the rest,” Rhea said, taking only two. “I won’t have more than one shot anyway.”

She nodded and the other two officers with Rhea caught up.

“Stay here in case something goes wrong.” They nodded and Rhea turned to the door of the pharmacy.

She walked to the door past the cowering civilians, shoving the extra needle in her pocket in case the first one somehow broke. The other she slipped partially up her sleeve. She snuck out the door and made her way a few blocks away from the pharmacy so if she failed, the speedster wouldn’t immediately know where they drugs had come from.

When she figured she was far enough, she stepped into the street in front of the cameras. The speedster was there in a moment.

“Get out of my city,” Rhea said simply.

The speedster quirked a half smile, looking bemused. “Or what Mrs. Police Chief?”

“You’ll have to go through me.”

“Oh, and is that supposed to be hard?” she asked, and in the next moment, Rhea couldn’t breath as she was grabbed. She could feel wind rushing past her, but she did not let herself panic. She didn’t bother to try to note where they were or what was happening around her when the speedster stopped. Instead, as soon as the pressure of the wind eased up, she shot her arm out and stabbed the needle into the crock of the speedster’s neck.

“You bitch!” she screamed. She wavered and stumbled back, but with her last moment of strength, she reached out and shoved Rhea. The only thing on Rhea’s mind when her foot slid off the side of the building was a spiteful ‘not in my city,’ but the last thought before her body hit the ground was of her wife and sons.


	4. Remy

Remy was usually good at keeping a level head, but even he felt like crumbling today. The world was shitty. People where shitty. Remy just wanted to curl up in bed and let the world shatter around him. But he did not. He couldn’t. He had a job to do.

Not everyone could get to the hospital right now, but they had a duty to the people who had managed it. It would only be worse when all of this was finally over.

Patton was currently taking metal shards out of a man’s neck, and Remy was morbidly impressed by how steady his hands were as he did it. There were three supervillains in the city. And there was one Bluebird.

They didn’t know what was happening. There weren’t televisions in the operating room. The attack could be over, it could be worse, Bluebird could be dead, and they wouldn’t know. Yet, Patton continued to carefully remove bloodied bits of metal from a stranger’s neck with steady hands, his eyes scarily blank.

The doors to the operating room opened suddenly, and Patton finished his motion to put the latest piece of metal in the waiting dish before looking up.

He blinked, something flashing across his face. “Hi,” he said. Remy himself felt so relieved he thought he might cry when he saw the nerd’s face. He could barely imagine how Patton felt. They’d made him scrub up before entering the room, but apparently whoever he’d asked had understood the necessity of this.

“Hi,” Logan replied, soft and a bit breathless. “I just wanted to tell you I’m okay. I’m okay and you’re doing good. Very good, and I’ll be here when you’re done.”

“Thank you,” Patton said, his voice wet, but his hands still somehow steady. “Thank you, I love you.”

“I love you too. Keep doing what you’re doing.”

Patton nodded as Logan turned to leave, but Remy imagined he didn’t go far. Patton let a slow breath out, tension releasing from his shoulders before they got back to work.

The surgery went quickly after that, and when they left the operating room Remy could tell by the tension in the air and the way people were rushing back and forth that with the conflict over, people were actually making it to the hospital now.

Patton ignored all of that activity to go straight to Logan the second his eyes found him. He basically collapsed in the man’s arms and Logan wrapped his arms around him to hold him tight. Remy met Logan’s eyes over Patton’s shoulder and there was something pained and mournful there. Something was wrong, more than what Remy knew, but Logan was going to hold it back until Patton was done with his part in saving the city. Remy nodded tightly at Logan, hoping Logan could read what Remy was trying to say in the motion. Logan nodded back and then looked away, burying his face into Patton’s shoulder.

Remy gave them their moment, even though it would only be a moment.

The conflict was over. The villains were defeated. Yet, Remy and Patton’s night was nowhere near finished.


End file.
